The Story Behind Lococycle's Insanity

When Twisted Pixel released the first trailer for Lococycle last week, the gaming world didn’t know how to react. Many were excited, others were confused, and some actually seemed pissed off. All we know right now is the game stars I.R.I.S., a sentient assassin motorcycle, who is being pursued by S.P.I.K.E., another seemingly evil sentient motorcycle.

Studio director Michael Wilford says the idea stemmed from the movie Torque, a sort of Fast and the Furious clone that substitutes cars for motorcycles. Josh Bear, Twisted Pixel’s creative director, was given a copy of the movie one night and later had nightmares about it.

“In the movie there’s a part where two girls are on motorcycles are popping wheelies and fighting each other with the motorcycles. Josh came into the office the next day and said, ‘We’re making a game about motorcycles that fight each other,’” Wilford says.

Twisted Pixel showed off a short demo of the game at Penny Arcade Expo last week. We learn the man attached to I.R.I.S. is named Pablo and only speaks Spanish. This leads to some humorous dialog exchanges where I.R.I.S. often misinterprets what Pablo is saying.

We also got a look at the game's combat system, which Wilford says might change when the game is final. They want to create a combo system that is easy for everyone to pick up and play but also has depth. He gave Batman: Arkham City's combo system as an inspiration.

Wilford says they aren't confirming what platforms Lococycle will arrive on despite everyone's assumption it's coming to Xbox Live Arcade. There’s a two gigabyte limit on games for Xbox Live Arcade and Lococycle is going to be bigger than that. "So we’re figuring out what all that means," he says.

With releases such as 'Spolsion Man, Gunstringer, and The Maw, Twisted Pixel is quickly becoming known as a studio that only makes crazy-looking games with unique hooks. Wilford says that doesn't necessarily mean they'll only make these types of games in the future.

“We love a wide range of games,” Wilford explains. “All of our games we try to do something different gameplay wise. We’re realizing that maybe people are assuming this is all we can do or want to do is the humor-y type stuff. We might do something down the road that tries to break away from that.”

As for the Internet commenters, Wilford says the studio reads every comment on every website about its games, good or bad.

“We think [negative comments] are hilarious. That doesn’t bother us," he says. "Every game comes with that. We like making something that’s non-standard that you’re either going to think is worth giving a shot or you want nothing to do with it.